The Special Council meeting September 26 is an introduction to the Official Plan Review  There will be a presentation and then comments and questions from public and Council members.  As explained upfront the review (which to be clear is a review in order to update it) is very necessary.  First it is necessary as prescribed by the legislation.  Secondly there have been important changes in terms of the policies which inform an official plan.  And finally we are required to consider how King will evolve through to 2051 where as the current OP looks out to only 2031.  In that time period King is to grow to 66.400 in population and to host 18,300 jobs.  (vs the population as of July 1, 2023 that is+229% and employment will almost double what it was in 2016).  There are several pieces of legislation affecting how a municipality can manage growth with much of it in response to the need for increasing housing in a manner which makes it attainable.  And there is increased understanding of the need to both mitigate and adapt to climate change.  The discussion paper being presented on Sept 26 does a good job in presenting all the various strategies and plans which already exist and identifies how they feed into the Official Plan and/or how they too need to be reviewed and updated given the changes. Community engagement is very much needed.

I hope each person will get involved with one topic on special interest.  If you aren’t able to attend the Council meeting read the report, register on speaking to get notification of future meetings,